Saturday, BGSU hockey (15-9-4, 11-6-4) looked to continue their home dominance, following a massive 4-1 victory against the St. Thomas Tommies (11-13-5, 8-9-4) that put the Orange and Brown in third place in the CCHA standings.
Despite a majority of the first period being spent in front of the Tommies’ goal, neither team could hit the back of the net through one. The closest either team got was a one-on-one with sophomore goalie Cole Moore standing in the way of a St. Thomas go-ahead goal.
In the first, BG outshot the Tommies 32-7, going 24-4 with shots on goal, but even through the high shot volume, Bowling Green was even against their opponent heading into the second.
All of the Bowling Green momentum would be sucked away quickly when a missed shot from graduate student defenseman Chase Foley put the puck in just the right spot for junior forward Lucas Wahlin who snuck past Moore, putting St. Thomas on the board just 40 seconds into the second period.
After the Tommies cracked the goose egg on the board, the Falcons needed a spark to help them stay in the game. BG would get good looks, but senior goalie Jake Sibell for St. Thomas would stand strong, taking on 41 shots with a 1.000 save percentage through two periods.
The offense of Saint Thomas would not let up into the third period taking calculated balance shots, which resulted in a break-away opportunity where Wahlin had clear ice in front of him and darted a shot past Moore to double their lead.
BGSU needed anything in the midway part of the third to keep their hopes of a six-point weekend alive and, with their backs against the wall, the Orange and Brown managed to earn a man advantage on a powerplay.
Senior forward Ryan O’Hara wasted no time on the opportunity to diligently attack Sibell before managing to poke in a score right before the midway point of the third period.
With time not on their side, BGSU started prioritizing good shots, but it was too little too late as Sibell’s great day continued, finishing 57-1 in the goal and leading St. Thomas to a 2-1 victory.
Although the Falcons were not able to skate away with the victory on Saturday, they take three points against St. Thomas on the weekend while the energy for the team is still in the direction of growth as the Mason Cup Quarterfinals start the weekend of March 7.
“(Losses like that) build character, it builds team camaraderie, you have to go through the hard times to enjoy the good times and again it’d be different if we got outshot 58-21 and we didn’t have a hope, this conversation would be totally different,” BGSU hockey’s head coach, Dennis Williams said. “Like I said to the guys, we win or we learn, we are going to continue to grow as a team, and over the next few weeks we hope to be peaking at our highest level, these losses are just potholes in the road, you pave ‘em over and keep going.”
The next test for the Falcons comes on Feb. 14, with the Orange and Brown slated to take on an exhibition game against USA Hockey’s National Team Developmental Program in Plymouth, Michigan, with puck drop at 7:00 p.m.
